Playwire with Jayson Dubin: Human Intelligence vs Machine Learning in AdTech at Marketecture Live

Dec 29, 2025

Jayson Dubin, Founder and CEO of Playwire, shares insights on blending machine learning with human intelligence to enhance publisher performance. He unveils the RAMP platform, designed to unify traffic shaping and optimize revenue. Jayson highlights impressive results: AI traffic shaping boosts revenue per session by 21%, while price flooring enhances RPM by 20%. He discusses industry challenges like supply chain transparency and the rise of AI-driven discovery, stressing the importance of maintaining trust in advertising.

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INSIGHT

When AI Outperforms Humans

AI should handle high-frequency, pattern-based decisions while humans handle contextual strategic judgment.
Data flags problems but human context determines the right corrective action.

INSIGHT

Feed Buyers What They Want

Traffic shaping feeds buyers the inventory they prefer to improve signal and win rates.
Playwire's AI traffic shaping drove a 21% lift in revenue per session and reduced bid requests by 17%.

ADVICE

Adopt Multidimensional Price Floors

Use multidimensional, per-request price floors instead of static GAM rules to capture more value.
Playwire deployed ~1.2M floors per site per day and realized ~20% RPM uplift.

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On Marketecture Live, Jayson Dubin, CEO and Founder of Playwire, explains how publishers can grow revenue and improve performance by combining machine learning with human intelligence. He shares concrete results from AI-driven traffic shaping and price floor optimization, walks through Playwire’s Quality, Performance, Transparency (QPT) initiative, and discusses major ecosystem issues like supply chain opacity, malicious ads, and the shifting realities of AI-driven discovery. He also introduces RAMP, Playwire’s Revenue Amplification Management Platform, built to give enterprise publishers control, visibility, and optional AI automation. Takeaways

AI is best for repetitive, rapid decisions; humans are best for contextual strategy and judgment in a gray, complex ad ecosystem.
AI traffic shaping drove a 21% lift in Revenue Per Session versus 9% without it.
AI price flooring delivered about a 20% uplift in RPM through multidimensional, per-request adjustments.
Cutting bid requests can increase performance and revenue while also improving page speed and traffic.
QPT shifted Playwire from quantity to quality, strengthening trust with buyers and partners.
Transparency remains uneven: publishers still struggle to identify buyers and stop malicious ads across the bidstream.
RAMP unifies traffic shaping, bid shaping, and flooring into a platform designed for enterprise publisher control and visibility.

Chapters

00:00 Intro Jayson Dubin and the core theme

00:55 What Playwire does and why automation matters at scale

01:23 The false choice: automation vs human involvement

01:38 Decision framework where AI wins vs where humans win

02:31 Traffic shaping explained feed DSPs and SSPs what they eat

03:15 Traffic shaping results 21% RPS lift and fewer bid requests

04:01 AI price flooring moving beyond GAM rule limits

05:23 Origin story industry feedback and the shift to quality

05:57 QPT Quality Performance Transparency

06:57 Two-year impact: fewer requests, higher CPM, higher revenue

09:37 Marketecture Live Q&A: What AI means for publishers now

18:56 Scale and leverage who gets to command better terms

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